How to improve someone else’s self-esteem

Self-esteem is that intrinsic sense of self worth and value. "Sense" because self esteem is actually relative and personal. A sense of self-esteem may or may not be justified. In fact it is almost irrelevant...

One of the problems is to solve this dilemma. We would suggest that one of the keys with helping to manage someone else’s self esteem lies in an ability to establish causality. Did the self-doubt bring about the situation that generated the feedback that created the low self-esteem or was it a series of unpleasant events that fuelled self-doubt, which attracted more negative events?

One truly important point to make in the search for the cause/s is to remain very aware that a person could be suffering from a clinical problem such as depression, which should be addressed by medical professionals.

Typical examples of externally generated self-esteem issues would include difficult personal relationships, a demanding boss, and feeling under pressure due to a clearly identifiable source. Remove the cause and the self esteem returns. Here the person should try and face up to the cause of the problem and be very honest about the severity of its impact.

Then it’s probably the case of objectively considering the options, risks and benefits of a path of action and establishing a support structure either personal or professional. Change is probably inevitable.

Examples of internally generated low esteem would include irrational beliefs of ugliness, inability to get and retain a job as a result of feeling unworthy, and habitual guilt.

Here its not a case of facing up to one cause it’s a case of false perception. Often these conditions can manifest in people who are quite suggestible. If you tell some personality types that they are ugly or their job performance is poor they quickly begin to accept the feedback as absolute and irrefutable.

Help Your Team to Think More Positively

This ingrained self-esteem is more difficult to address and relies upon the person becoming suggestible to positive images. Hypnosis can help, so can coaching whereby the person is helped to identify the things they are good at and accept the successes they have had and could enjoy again. Help someone with their self-esteem and you help them get to a position where they can make more and more positive choices for themselves. Imagine how this could help team performance and morale.